My Messy Ring Testing Journey
So yesterday I wasted like three hours digging through my messy loot pile in camp, right? Got frustrated cause every character had random rings slapped on and I couldn’t remember why any of ’em were there. Figured hey, let’s actually test which rings actually feel good, especially that Poisoner Ring everyone talks about.
First things first, I grabbed Astarion – rogue dude feels perfect for poison sneaky stuff, yeah? Threw the Poisoner Ring on his skinny fingers. Felt kinda naked just doing that, so I dragged him into some goblin fight near Blighted Village. Tried that fancy coating thing before attacking. First hit? Goblin dude turned green, started barfing. Pretty funny. But then next goblin smacked Astarion silly cause his AC sucked. Lesson one: Poison tickles, but doesn’t stop you getting hit. Gotta actually apply the poison AND land the hit. Missed? Congrats, you wasted the poison AND took a club to the face.
Swapped it out for the Shadow Cloak Ring next. Figured, maybe more hiding = safer than poison? Same goblins, different day. Tried sneaking behind a rock. Ring actually made Astarion kinda vanish! Got a surprise round off, backstabbed one goblin good. Felt smooth. But the second I stepped out of the shadows? Goblin chucked a rock and almost broke his skull. Totally different vibe – safer if you stick to the dark spots like glue, useless standing in daylight trading punches.
Feeling grumpy now, tried shoving the old Ring of Protection on him. +1 AC. Sounded boring as hell. Went back to those poor goblins for round three. Got shot at, arrow bounced off! Okay, less damage. More boring, yeah, but kinda… reliable? Didn’t have to think, just got less hurt. Didn’t help kill anything faster, though.
Finally dug out this Rogue’s Power Ring (+1d4 Sneak Attack damage) I totally forgot stealing from some cultist. Slapped that bad boy on. Same goblin ambush spot. Hid, backstabbed… BOOM. Goblin evaporated. Didn’t poison, didn’t turn invisible, didn’t make AC better. Just pure, ugly damage right now. Felt satisfyingly crunchy.
So yeah, learned this the hard way:
- Poisoner Ring? Needs patience and setup. Strong if you poison your weapon AND hit consistently. Feels weak if you miss or fight too fast.
- Shadow Ring? Situational. Cool for ambushes & hiding builds. Worthless slugfests.
- Ring of Protection? Reliable, boring. Helps you survive but not shine.
- Rogue Power Ring? Pure damage. Simple. Brutal. For murderhobos.
For my reckless rogue who keeps getting spotted? Probably sticking with the damage ring or the protection one. Poisoner’s cool, but way too many steps for my impatient clicking. Different strokes for different folks, right? Gotta match the dang ring to how you actually end up playing!